What is a diversity training program?
Diverse workplaces bring several benefits that non-diverse workplaces could only dream of. In fact, more than 76% of younger workers say that having a diverse workplace is an essential component of making an employment decision.
That focus is only increasing as younger generations continue to dominate the labor market. Businesses are implementing diversity training programs to meet the needs of their staff and create a more equitable workplace culture along the way.
So what are diversity training programs? Diversity training programs are education and resources that increase awareness, knowledge, and communication with people of diverse backgrounds.
These training programs help teach staff the potential biases and inequalities their colleagues face if poor behaviors and attitudes are left unchecked. It improves understanding, leading to more productive interactions between teammates.
In this article, we explore why diversity training programs are important and several different types of diversity training programs to help you and your staff approach, navigate, and eliminate microaggressions, implicit bias, discrimination, and harassment.
Why Diversity Training and Building a Diverse Workforce is Important
Building a diverse workforce and implementing diversity training goes a long way to building a solid company culture. Steps toward improving DEI can develop better employee engagement, productivity, and collaboration with other team members.
Diverse and inclusive work environments help human resource teams recruit high-quality talent and increase employee retention. Organizations that place diversity, equity, and inclusion at the heart of workplace culture see higher bottom-line profit, improved creativity, and innovative thinking.
Team members who have a sense of belonging give back to the organization in unimaginable ways, leading to a marked competitive edge over organizations that don’t value diversity & inclusion.
6 Types of Diversity Training in the Workplace
Different types of diversity training help accomplish different goals that help build diverse teams. While some focus on diversity issues, others focus on essential competency. Let’s explore the different types of practical diversity training and how they can help you establish a diverse and inclusive culture.
Do you need to train your whole team? CoachDiversity Institute can lead group training programs to bring your entire team up to speed. Give us a call to see how cultural sensitivity training, microaggression training, and inclusive leadership training can help grow your team into a diverse and inclusive powerhouse.
1. Awareness Training
Awareness training is an introductory, first-step type of training many organizations use to set DEI standards. It introduces employees to potential blind spots, implicit biases, and unintentional microaggressions that can happen when team members lack awareness of individuals with different backgrounds.
Training sessions usually involve education on sexual orientations, ethnicity, gender identities, disabilities, and neurodiversity. Many employers use onboarding or orientations as an opportunity to cover these topics, reinforcing that inappropriate conduct has no place in your inclusive environment.
2. Skill-Based Diversity Training
New employee training requires a blend of hard and soft skills that help set new hires up for success. These skilled-based training programs can cover everything from communication skills to team building and everything in between.
Skill-based diversity training focuses on specific skills related to improving relationships between team members. They help illuminate common ground that shifts mindsets from division to unity.
Training sessions can focus on the technical hard skills that team members need to accomplish their responsibilities. Skill-based training isn’t just for new hires, as it’s an excellent tool for existing staff. Everyone can use a refresher to ensure a consistent inclusive workplace.
3. Diversity Audits
Diversity audits are an influential tool HR professionals use to take a pulse check of where current workplace diversity stands. Frequent diversity audits provide insight into areas of potential improvement, especially if your organization has never performed one.
HR teams can evaluate the effectiveness of DEI initiatives and where to make adjustments to improve outcomes. It creates an open and anonymous platform for employees to voice comments and concerns, giving leadership a chance to intervene.
There are several excellent ways to collect data, such as surveys, exit interviews, suggestion boards, focus groups, and performance reviews. The information you collect from your diversity audits can even reinforce the importance of diversity in your team.
4. Intermediate Diversity Training
The best employers focus on the continual growth of their staff, including intermediate diversity training. Intermediate diversity training is a diversity program that takes a deeper dive into diversity issues and teaches more advanced skills to address those issues.
Graduates of intermediate diversity training courses can identify systematic issues underrepresented groups face and how to eliminate them. They help build strong company values and celebrate those with different backgrounds, socio-economic statuses, and demographics.
Intermediate diversity training transforms co-workers into leaders, eliminating microaggressions, workplace harassment, and unconscious biases in the workplace. Earn your advanced diversity coaching certificate with CoachDiversity Institute, and in 60 hours, you can make vast strides in improving workplace diversity in your organization! Contact us today to get started!
5. Basic Diversity Training
The saying goes, “you gotta learn to walk before you run,” and the same is true for diversity training. While it’s noble to seek intermediate diversity training, everyone has to have a solid grasp of the fundamentals.
To execute effective basic diversity training, create a simple workplace diversity training goal and focus energy. This training could be cultural sensitivity training, anti-sexism training, anti-racism training, HR compliance training, unconscious bias training, or company mission and values training.
It’s an excellent idea to engage in basic diversity training during onboarding or orientation. By engaging in basic diversity training early in the employment process, you ensure everyone is on the same page, creating a standard that starts during the hiring phase and extends through termination.
6. Mobile Learning
In our increasingly digital world, mobile learning is a critical tool teams rely on to provide remote training options. It’s the cornerstone of the remote workforce, providing essential information in various formats that improve retention.
Mobile learning is also ideal for engaging in robust training without interrupting operations. Its accessible platform and go-at-your-own-pace strategy mean employees of all kinds get the same excellent training.
Online diversity training makes it easy for leadership to track employee completion, allowing them to follow up where needed. Without this crucial workplace diversity training, it would be impossible to employ comprehensive diversity initiatives.
Incorporate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Training with CoachDiversity
Employing a diverse workforce brings countless benefits. It helps with problem-solving, decision-making, communication, collaboration, innovation, recruiting, retaining, and bottom-line profits. Diverse employees can reflect a broader customer base and improve brand loyalty, attracting repeat business.
While different types of training all aim to improve workplace diversity, it’s beneficial to know a bit about each one. From awareness training and diversity audits to intermediate and basic diversity training, there’s always an educational tool to improve diversity.
Looking to take your diversity education to the next level? Partner with CoachDiversity Institute to obtain an accredited diversity coach certificate and make a difference in your organization in no time! Call or click today to get started creating a difference in the lives of those around you!